Se rasca, cojea y quiere morder.

Se makes rascar reflexive here.

• rascar = to scratch
• rascarse = to scratch oneself

So se rasca means he/she/it scratches himself/herself/itself.

In English, we often need himself / herself / itself, but in Spanish that idea is often built into the verb with a reflexive pronoun like me, te, se, nos, os, se.

Examples:

• Me rasco = I scratch myself
• Se rasca = he/she/it scratches himself/herself/itself

Spanish often leaves out the subject when it is understood from the verb form or the context.

In se rasca, cojea y quiere morder, the verbs:

• rasca
• cojea
• quiere

are all third-person singular, so the subject could be:

• he
• she
• it
• a singular noun like the dog, the cat, the patient, etc.

Spanish does this all the time:

• Habla mucho = He/She talks a lot
• Tiene hambre = He/She/It is hungry

You only add the subject if you need emphasis or clarity.

Rasca is the third-person singular present form of rascar.

By itself, rasca can mean:

• he/she/it scratches
• or, with se, he/she/it scratches himself/herself/itself

So:

• rasca = scratches
• se rasca = scratches itself / scratches himself / scratches herself

In this sentence, because of se, the meaning is reflexive.

Cojea comes from the verb cojear, which means to limp.

So:

• cojear = to limp
• cojea = he/she/it limps

This is also third-person singular present.

Example:

• El perro cojea. = The dog limps.

No. Cojea comes from cojear, not from coger.

That is important, especially in Latin America.

• cojear = to limp
• cojea = limps

This is a normal verb and does not carry the vulgar meaning associated with coger in some countries.

So learners should not worry: cojea is completely standard and safe.

Because after querer (to want), Spanish normally uses an infinitive.

Structure:

• querer + infinitive

So:

• quiere morder = wants to bite

Other examples:

• quiere comer = wants to eat
• quiere salir = wants to leave
• quiere dormir = wants to sleep

This is very common in Spanish.

They mean different things:

• quiere morder = wants to bite / is trying to bite
• muerde = bites / is biting

So quiere morder does not necessarily mean the biting happens. It expresses intention, desire, or aggressive behavior.

For example:

• El perro quiere morder. = The dog wants to bite.
• El perro muerde. = The dog bites / is biting.

The sentence is in the present indicative:

• se rasca
• cojea
• quiere morder

The present in Spanish can describe:

1. what is happening now
2. a general condition
3. a typical behavior

In a sentence like this, it often sounds like someone is describing current symptoms or behavior:

• It scratches itself, limps, and wants to bite.

Grammatically, it could refer to either a person or an animal, because the subject is omitted.

But in real-life context, quiere morder makes it sound especially likely that the subject is an animal, such as a dog.

For example:

• El perro se rasca, cojea y quiere morder.

A person could also be the subject in some unusual context, but most learners would naturally interpret this as describing an animal.

The commas separate a list of actions or symptoms:

• se rasca
• cojea
• y quiere morder

This is similar to English:

• It scratches itself, limps, and wants to bite.

Spanish commonly uses commas in a series, with y before the last item.

Because they are simply listed one after another, and there is no new subject introduced.

So the same subject does all three actions:

• se rasca
• cojea
• quiere morder

That means one single person/animal:

• scratches itself
• limps
• wants to bite

If Spanish wanted to introduce a different subject, it would usually make that clear with a noun or pronoun.

You would change the verbs to third-person plural:

• Se rascan, cojean y quieren morder.

Breakdown:

• se rascan = they scratch themselves
• cojean = they limp
• quieren morder = they want to bite

So the pattern stays the same; only the verb forms change.

A simple approximation is:

• co-je-a
• roughly ko-HEH-ah in much of Latin America

The j sound in Spanish is not like the English j in job. It is more like a strong h or a throaty sound, depending on the speaker and region.

Also, notice that cojea has three vowel sounds:

• co
• je
• a

So it is not one syllable at the end like English jay. It is more clearly separated.